Today's Game

Here we go ... let's see some ballet.

Mid-game update
Cardinals 7, Dodgers 1 - fifth inning: If you're going to have bad hitting and bad pitching, you might as well have them in the same game, right?

Those who have pointed out the twist in this series are correct - unlike in recent weeks, there is no huge dropoff between the St. Louis starting pitching and the bullpen, reducing the odds of the Dodgers' rallying from a big deficit.

So the Dodger offense is just going to have to figure out a way to score some runs. More to the point, Los Angeles cannot win if it does not hit home runs.

No, you shouldn't give up on the Dodgers. There's no reason to, and I don't even understand the incentive to. What's the rush? Are there points for being the first to point out that the Dodgers are done? If they end up losing this series, you'll have as long as you like to mope about it. But for now, go go ahead and hope. We all saw The Shawshank Redemption, didn't we?

For me, it's more about the present - the individual moment where you feel the frustration of knowing they are capable of doing better than they've shown through five innings today - but they aren't.

Boston at Anaheim, Game 1: For those who would like to talk on through the afternoon, feel free to continue the thread during the American League playoff opener: